kürzervskürztTell them apart

Quick tell: kürzer is a adjective, kürzt is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“kürzer” is an adjective and “kürzt” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,947
“kürzer” frequency rank
#44,034
“kürzt” frequency rank
50981
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kürzer kürzt
Definition Prädikative und adverbielle Form des Komparativs des Adjektivs kurz 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs kürzen

Where the eye mixes kürzer and kürzt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. kürzer runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against kürzt's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
kürzer
5 ch
kürzt

Why the eye confuses kürzer with kürzt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kürzer is [ˈkʏʁt͡sɐ] while kürzt is [kʏʁt͡st]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50981, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kürzer is recorded at frequency rank #6,947, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈkʏʁt͡sɐ]. kürzt is at rank #44,034, tagged as averb, pronounced [kʏʁt͡st].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 50981, this pair ranks #1,153,048 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kürzer vs kürzt

Shared letters: krzü. Private to "kürzer": e. Private to "kürzt": t.

"kürzer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "kürzt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "kürzer" and "kürzt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kürzer" is an adjective and "kürzt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "kürzer" or "kürzt"?
"kürzer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,947 in our German list, against #44,034 for "kürzt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "kürzer" and "kürzt" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kürzer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kürzt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,153,048 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kürzer" and "kürzt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kurie vs kürzt". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,153,048 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list